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Crusaders vs Stormers: Super Rugby live scores, blog

3rd March, 2018
Where: AMI Stadium, Christchurch, New Zealand
Date: Saturday 3rd March 2018
When: Kick off 17:35 AEDT
TV: Foxsports

Betting
Crusaders - 1.09
Stormers - 7.50

Teams
Crusaders
1 Wyatt Crockett
2 Codie Taylor
3 Michael Alaalatoa
4 Scott Barrett
5 Sam Whitelock
6 Peter Samu
7 Billy Harmon
8 Jordan Taufua
9 Bryn Hall
10 Richie Mo'unga
11 George Bridge
12 Ryan Crotty
13 Jack Goodhue
14 Seta Tamanivalu
15 David Havili

16 Andrew Makalio
17 Chris King
18 Oliver Jager
19 Luke Romano
20 Heiden Bedwell-Curtis
21 Mitchell Drummond
22 Mitch Hunt
23 Manasa Mataele

Stormers
1 JC Janse van Resnburg
2 Ramone Samuels
3 Wilco Louw
4 JD Schickerling
5 Pieter-Steph du Toit
6 Siya Kolisi (captain)
7 Cobus Wiese
8 Nizaam Carr
9 Dewaldt Duvenage
10 Dillyn Leyds
11 Raymond Rhule
12 Damian de Allende
13 EW Viljoen
14 Seabelo Senatla
15 SP Marais

16 Dean Muir
17 Steven Kitshoff
18 Carlu Sadie
19 Jan de Klerk
20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe
21 Kobus van Dyk
22 Justin Phillips
23 George Whitehead

Referees
Referee Nic Berry
Assistants Jamie Nutbrown, Cam Stone
TMO Shane McDermott

Form
Super Rugby 2018
Crusaders - W
Stormers - L

Played 21
Crusaders won 16
Stormers won 4
Draw 1
Sam Whitelock takes a high ball for the Crusaders. (AAP Image/SNPA, Ross Setford)
Expert
3rd March, 2018
102
1947 Reads

Match result:

The Crusaders continued to make a strong start to their title defense with a comfortable win over the Stormers on Saturday afternoon.

» Click here to read the full match report

Final score
Crusaders 45
Stormers 28

Match preview:

The Crusaders go head to head with the Stormers on Saturday evening in Christchurch as the South African side continue their overseas tour. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5:35pm AEDT.

The tourists are certainly going to have their work cut out for them this round against the current champions. Their performance against the Tahs last week definitely impressed but not enough to suggest that they should really threaten the home side this weekend as long as the locals live up to their potential.

The Stormers do have a strong pack and will be hoping to assert some dominance in the set piece over the Crusaders. But it’s in the backs where they are going to really struggle. Dillyn Leyds will start at No.10 replacing the injured Damian Willemse. Leyds hasn’t played at 10 for the Stormers since May 2017 and while he’s a good instinctive player, he’s going to be under a lot of pressure against the Crusaders at home.

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The Stormers – who have made finals five times since 2011 – are one of those good but not great Super Rugby sides. If they want to start turning that around then picking up wins against the top sides overseas is going to be crucial. They arguably should have won last week in Sydney so a strong performance in Christchurch would help make this tour a success in some ways.

The Crusaders picked up a good win against the Chiefs last week but many feel they were lucky and helped by a yellow card late in the game that gave them a penalty try and a man advantage. However it’s worth noting that they themselves had two players sin-binned during the game and were able to stay in touch with the Chiefs despite being down to 14 men.

Their pack is strengthened this week as Barrett joins Whitelock in the second row. If the pack need any more motivation then the announcement earlier this week that prop Wyatt Crockett will retire at the end of this season should be more than enough.

Prediction
Expect to see a passionate performance from the Stormers that ends in another defeat. The Crusaders will be too strong across the park and with the home advantage should pick up their second win of the season.

Crusaders to win by 12 points.

Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5:35pm AEDT on Saturday.

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